COMMENTARY. Without doubt it is the _Crocus sativus_. Dioscorides gives an interesting account of the different varieties of it which were used in his time. Suffice it to say, that the best decidedly was the Cicilian, from Mount Corycus, which is often alluded to by classical authors. See Pliny (xxi, 6); Celsus (v, 22); Statius (Silv. v, 3, 41); Galen (De Antid. i.) With regard to its action on the animal economy, he mentions that Thessalus held that it is merely fragrant, while some, on the other hand, maintained that it is a deadly poison in doses of dr. iij, but that in truth it is diuretic and sub-astringent, and therefore applicable to erysipelas and defluxions of the eyes, as a cure for surfeit, and for producing a discharge of urine (i, 25.) See, in like manner, Pliny (l. c.) It occurs in the Hippocratic treatises, and in the works of Celsus, who calls it purgative, emollient, and discutient. (196.) By the way, we may mention that by purgative, Celsus evidently means cleansing in external applications, as is evident from the substances with which it is enumerated, namely, verdigris, orpiment, &c. His editor, Dr. Milligan, therefore evidently mistakes the meaning of his author. (l. c.) Galen and his followers call it heating in the second degree, and drying in the first, with some astringency. The Arabians adopt the views of the Greeks as to its virtues, but prescribe it in a great many more cases than their predecessors. See Serapion (c. 173); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 241); Avicenna (ii, 2, 126.) Thus they held that it is both aphrodisiacal and cordial, and recommend it accordingly. They also used it in cases of difficult labour, and as a deobstruent in obstructions of the liver and spleen. One of Rhases’s authorities says that in doses of three drachms it proves fatal. Another of them says of it, that it improves the breathing and appetite. Symeon Seth says that it is stomachic and improves the colour. He, Serapion, and other of the ancient authorities, affirm that in large doses it occasions involuntary laughter, immoderate mirth, and the other effects which result from intoxicating liquors. From late experiments, it would appear that its powers had been overrated. See Pereira (Mat. Med. 696.) It was much used by the ancients as a perfume. See Beckmann’s ‘Hist. of Inventions,’ Joh. Bodæus a Stapel (Ad Theophrast. H. P. vi, 6), and Hertodt’s ‘Crocologia,’ as quoted by him. Its medical use, he adds, has always continued among the Orientals. Κρόμμυον, Cepa, _Onion_, is of the fourth order of heating medicines, its substance consisting of thick matter, and hence when applied to hemorrhoids it opens them. It is also sufficiently detergent, and removes alphos with vinegar; and in alopecia it occasions a more rapid growth of hair than alcyonium. Its juice is useful in suffusion and dimness of vision from thick humours. * * * * *